Fortnite Sneaks in Ping System to Season 8; Respawn System May be in Works

After Season 8 of Fortnite landed earlier today, some players were quick to notice a ping system had been introduced very much under the radar. As a rework of the existing system, called “World Markers,” Epic makes no mention of the word “ping” in the patch notes, but those who have also played Apex Legends were not fooled by the update. Operating in a very similar fashion, players are now able to call out items and locations, as well as enemies, with the push of a button.

After tremendous positive feedback to the Apex ping system, Fortnite has followed suit, introducing their own, albeit lite version. Players will be able to call out locations and items they find in the world by moving their reticle over it and pressing the left D-pad button on console, and clicking the mouse wheel on PC. Players can also double-tap the same button to indicate danger nearby. While not as robust as the Apex ping system, missing features such as in-depth enemy information (“Someone’s Been Here”), or those that lay claim to certain buildings when looting, Fortnite‘s updated system is a good place to start.

In another attempt to drag the Fortnite defectors back from the grasp of Apex, Epic claims to be working on a respawn system for the game, according to a recent AMA. Some players have claimed to spot evidence of this upcoming change since the new season dropped. According to a Tweet by FortTory, they found what appears to be a van with a holographic player character on the roof. After scouring through the code, they found files named “Second_Chance_Van,” leading them to believe the AMA holds weight, and a respawn system revolving around a van down by the river is coming.

So far there is no word from Epic on when a respawn system may be added to live servers, if at all, but the evidence seems to point that it will be available in-game at some point. Even though Fortnite seems to be trending towards adding some of the major systems found in Apex, they do have something that Apex doesn’t: bloodthirsty pirates and a fancy new volcano, courtesy of Season 8.